POWER TO THE PEOPLE The towering monument at the corner of Temple Drive and Edsa in Quezon City is in the spotlight again as the Philippines celebrates the 26th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution that ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986. A word of advice for motorists: Stay away from this area on Friday, Feb. 24, as it will be the center of the start of the celebration on Feb. 25 . JIM GUIAO PUNZALAN

Catholic Church leaders have urged the people to mark the celebration of the 26th anniversary of the Edsa People Power Revolution on Saturday with gratitude to God for attaining freedom through “bloodless” means, but warned those using the event for personal motives and interests.

“Now, people can always use the celebration for their own motives … but I hope as a people, it’s about time that we think about what it could bring in terms of the common good, development and giving people hope,” said Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).

“When we look back and rejoice that we have won freedom without bloodshed, we should thank the Lord,” Palma said in an interview over Church-run Radio Veritas on Wednesday.

The 26th Edsa Revolution anniversary comes at a time when the nation is divided over the ongoing impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona for betrayal of public trust, improper disclosures in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) and other charges.

Corona and President Benigno Aquino III have also been engaged in an ugly word war, using public forums as venues. The exchange prompted senators and bishops to call on the two leaders of coequal branches of government to exercise prudence and proper decorum.

Edsa activities, theme

The Edsa People Power Commission (EPPC), chaired by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., has come up with a series of activities for the celebration in Metro Manila, Trece Martires City, Iligan City and Batangas province on February 25.

Its theme, “Edsa 26: Anong Taya Mo Para Sa Pilipinas Natin?” is a call to action for all Filipinos to participate in nation-building while the activities will highlight the spirit of volunteerism and bayanihan.

The President will lead the flag-raising rites at the People Power Monument and the traditional “Salubungan” on Edsa. Expected to join him are Vice President Jejomar Binay, former President Fidel Ramos, Ochoa, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino, Metro Manila mayors and EPPC commissioners.

In the afternoon, Mr. Aquino will be in Trece Martires to turn over 21,000 houses to soldiers. According to the EPPC, this event is symbolic of the partnership of the military and civilians during the Edsa Revolution.

God’s will

Archbishop Palma said Edsa showed the Filipinos’ obedience to God’s will and perseverance to become united.

But he lamented that while the country was able to topple a dictatorship and achieve freedom, the peaceful and nonviolent revolution, which other countries tried to emulate, had yet to bear fruit 26 years after.

“Today, we are free as we claim, but that freedom has not yet resulted in a better life,” Palma said. “The challenge today is how do we use this freedom to achieve greater blessings? How do we use this freedom to develop the country, where people live in the most humane [condition]?”

“I would say [there should be] responsible use of such freedom,” he added.

In a recent speech commemorating the Edsa Revolution at La Consolacion College in Manila, Mr. Aquino campaigned for the removal of Corona, saying: “Would Juan de la Cruz allow himself to be left out in the process? Are we going to allow only a few to decide for all of us?”

“The question in this trial is rather simple: Can we still trust Mr. Corona?” the President said during the first of a series of events to mark the anniversary of the civilian-backed military uprising.

For his part, Corona challenged the President to disclose his own SALN, bank and purported psychological records of his mental capacity to govern.

LGU programs

In Malacañang, Executive Secretary Ochoa issued Memorandum Circular No. 27, ordering all government officials and employees to take part in the Edsa anniversary activities.

The circular also directed all departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the national government, including government corporations, and local government units, to extend assistance to organizers of the program and activities.

Ochoa said he was encouraging them to conduct their own events, including holding lectures, film showings and community services “and help make this year’s observance a success.”

In Iligan City, more than 200 houses will be distributed to victims of Tropical Storm “Sendong,” which devastated Northern Mindanao on December 16 last year.

Edsa Day in the city will be capped by a concert featuring popular artists, led by Ogie Alcasid, and an EPPC commissioner, who volunteered to perform before the evacuees and the relief aid volunteers.

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Here in United States, a lot of Christian churches have already proclaimed that Catholicism and Mormonism is not a religion but a CULT. I was a catholic but thank god he saved me and converted me to Christianity that’s why the alliance of the communist Aquino, liberal party, the Philippines Catholic church and their many cronies and brainwashed supporters cannot deceive me anymore. I joined them at EDSA I & II and I have repented for I have sinned joining them and Philippines are getting worse and worse because they emulate people who promotes hate, vindictiveness and all anti-christian belief.

Correction, you are referring to the civil rights law in United States not Christianity.

http://profiles.google.com/forestking19 Ryan Barcelo

Why? Can’t your faith stand against the new invented “rights” imposed by the state that run against your basic human right – “Religious Freedom”? The state cannot and should not impose policies or “rights”, as they call them, that run contrary to people’s Religious Freedom. This is what the Church which you call “cult” in the US has been fighting for. You continue to enjoy your right to Religious Freedom not because of the efforts of your religious sect but primarily because of the your so called “cult” which is consistent and persistent in defending this basic human right. Ask your sect of what it is doing in this regard. I can assure you it is doing something close to nothing, if not nothing at all.

http://profile.yahoo.com/JH4R5SKCQUTMZJJYZVOUYXL4L4/ t c

Separation of church and state.

http://profiles.google.com/forestking19 Ryan Barcelo

Wrong argument. There is no such thing as separation of Church and State in one human person. A person cannot have two identities: one secular and the other religious like you can support abortion outside the church and support the church’s pro-life stance at the same time. This is tantamount to an identity crisis! It should be a choice between pro-abortion and pro-life. To be in the middle does not just amount to an identity crisis but the absence of truth, and therefore, the absence of meaning.

FYI, the Church and State are separate in administration but they serve the same man, a religious being. This is precisely the reason why man’s right to religious freedom should be preserved always. Any attempt of the state to violate religious freedom should be resisted and the Catholic Church is doing this so well. At the same time, your sect in this regard is doing something close to nothing if not nothing at all.

http://profile.yahoo.com/JH4R5SKCQUTMZJJYZVOUYXL4L4/ t c

Separation of Church and State is a LAW not a faith. Your Philippine Constitution have that too which is blatantly being violated by the Catholic Church and the Aquino Administration since 1986.

si makising

Do you know what is the separation of church and state according to the constitution both US and Philippines?

Guest

You shoud have read the History of you “Former” Religion before you did your mistake of abandoning it.

“Christianity” in America as you claim is the outcome of Philosophical Activism that started in Europe during the Middle Ages and never by a true Apostolic Succession.

http://profile.yahoo.com/JH4R5SKCQUTMZJJYZVOUYXL4L4/ t c

Christianity started by Jesus even before Europe was born. Your theory is from a history book and not from the bible.

si makising

yeah, ang Peter as the first head of the church and it’s was passed on from the generation to generation of popes until the present. It was never broken. And even the bible your using, that’s from the Catholic.

http://profile.yahoo.com/JH4R5SKCQUTMZJJYZVOUYXL4L4/ t c

Wrong again. The bible was complied by a committee formed by Constantine a Greek emperor from 300 BCe. Catholic has nothing to do with the bible other than to use it to attract people. The Christian Bible is NOT the foundation of Catholic belief.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZO2FOBJ2P77CDRXLAQZJ6ZRCB4 Cynthia

Christian Warrior – The Holy Bible is the foundation of every Christian faith, be it Catholic, the various Protestant sects you name it from Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, to Mormons to our very own Aglipay, Iglesia ni Cristo, etc. and yes bottom line Peter was the first head of the Christian church. From then on obviously history followed as we know to date, how can it be from the bible? Protestant as the name implies came from “protest” – at that time in the Middle Ages or earlier on they protested against Catholicism, thus the different variations and interpretations. Even the Church of England came to existence out of protest for the Pope. Anyway, these days the funny thing is “Christians” do not want to accept that Catholics are Christians (I would like to write this statement to be politically correct but I fail to, so I will just blurt it out) to the point that the distinction is becoming ridiculous. If a Catholic is asked by a “Christian” what is your religion and a Catholic answers I am a Christian, it is funny to observe the hidden smirk that the lip of the person somehow twitches. Is that what Jesus Christ want Christians to be – divisive? In some areas in the US (of course not in the main cities) where Christianity is turning into fundamentalism it has been a concern as some families do not even want to mix or be neighborly with Catholics. Sad in 21st century – more knowledge but more backward.

http://profiles.google.com/forestking19 Ryan Barcelo

The Catholic Church is viewed like a “cult” in the US because she has the courage to speak out the truth with courage, unpopular it may be. Protestants? They are like bamboos, they bend where the wind blows them. That is why protestants fit very well in the new religion – Secularism, where objective truth does not exist. I remember the saying “without truth, there is no meaning.” Now, I suspect if anything a protestant says has any meaning at all.

http://profile.yahoo.com/JH4R5SKCQUTMZJJYZVOUYXL4L4/ t c

You are wrong. Mormons in America speak more loudly than Catholics. Catholics in United States are really very quiet (zero percent of Philippines Catholic Church). They (Catholics and Mormons) are declared “Cult” because they practice rituals and the bible is not the foundation of their faith.

http://profiles.google.com/forestking19 Ryan Barcelo

Regardless is Mormons speak louder than the Catholics. The most important thing is, the Catholic Church in the US speaks with courage and your sect is silent. You equate ritual to “cult”? C’mon, even Jesus performed the rituals of the Jewish religion. Your “purism” is not compatible with Christianity.

EDSA I was and will always be from the start a secular revolution. Remember it was Butz Aquino who first called the Filipino people to get out of their homes and support them, not Cardinal Sin. The two forces of Enrile and Ramos were military alliance that sparked the uprising. If the Catholic Church was in any way complicit in support of EDSA I, it was late in doing so. Butz Aquino, Ramos, Honasan and Enrile beat them to it.

At first it was Butz Aquino who called on the people to march on EDSA, then Jaime Cardinal Sin followed suit. For the length of the EDSA revolution, thousands of unarmed Filipinos stood in the way of loyalist tanks, confronting armed Marine troops with hugs, food, and cigarettes. Colegialas garlanded soldiers with flowers; seminarians shook hands with soldiers and embraced them.

I would always be grateful that EDSA People Power Revolt in 1986 happened.
It happened because of Divine intervention for no one can lay claim that he or she led the revolt. If anyone claims that he or she was instrumental to lead the people out into the streets peacefully and assembled for four days in EDSA that ended in a peaceful transition of government from dictatorship to restoration of democracy, that person is a BIG LIAR.

Those who experienced the indescribable feeling of togetherness among the crowds and the unexplainable burst of smiles amidst tears when news on the radio resounded the final exit of the Marcos family out of Malacanang, that was no feat by any single person. No bloodshed or massive dispersal occurred despite the enormous forces of the dictator threatening the people every moment when APCs roared to advance and jet planes swooping down to scare. Instead murmurings of prayers and singing of songs and locking arms showing solidarity filled the atmosphere. When darkness came, small flames from lighted candles brightened the surroundings and, like the miracle of loaves and fishes by Jesus, food and drinks were shared to anyone, we were strangers to each other but behaved like long lost friends.

Each went on separate ways when the new government started to consolidate and clean up. Despite the subversion of power by overly ambitious politicians who led bloody coups and distorted the economy once, the Filipino people remained steadfast but had to endure the successive return of evil forces in government. There has been 26 years since then.

God has been patient with us, ungrateful people who were delivered from the persecutions of the dictatorship Why are we deliberately dividing the nation with our selfish ways again? This Lenten season is the time to reflect what has gone wrong and how each one of us is going to do something about it. Instead of finger pointing and being fatalistic about the EDSA PPR of 1986, think what could have happened if the dictatorship had not been excised and we are still under the power of darkness.

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_XOLTIFWSG3REDCYVFRPVWYN25U Jay

hay naku….

alice_in_chains

Mang Teban,

I totally agree with you. That time was so different, the feeling…almost indescribable. The very meaning of unity is there without being said, towards a common goal of ousting a dictator. It’s just sad that after so long, the same politicians who participated in the 86 EDSA revolt are the same ones who corrupted its very meaning. I know a lot of people will just laugh at this simply because they have not seen in their own eyes the terror brought by martial law. I may not be able to celebrate there physically but I will continue to cherish the memories of EDSA 86. I consider myself lucky enough to witness the miracle and truly, it was an amazing gift that touched a million lives.

let pnoy and his domesticated flock go to edsa. let him talk the whole day until his mouth is dried up. then maybe after that he will stay quiet for once.

even a fool is thought wise if he keeps quiet.

joeldcndcn

HE, HE, HE, DON’T FORGET THE “LANDSLIDE” VICTORY OF PNOY ALL OVER THE LAND AGAINST PLUNDERER ERAP, C-5 ROAD VILLAR AND ARROYO CRONY TEODORO, TSK, TSK, TSK! IT WOULD TAKE JUST ONE CALL AND PRESTO, YOU WILL BE HIDING WITH THE CORRUPT GLO ARROYO AT THE SPD JAIL, HA, HA, HA!

CBCP BISHOP PALMA OF CEBU IS A VERY POLITICAL PERSON, EVERYTHING IN CEBU IN POLITICS HE IS THERE, HE IS TRYING TO BE A “CARDINAL” AND USES POLITICS TO GET HIS DREAM COME TRUE, TSK, TSK, TSK! HE SHOULD NOT BE ENDORSED, HE SHOULD RESIGN AND RUN FOR BGY. CHIEF, MAYOR, CONGRESSMAN, SENATOR, ETC, HE, HE, HE! WHILE HIS PRIESTS IN ARCHDIOCESE OF CEBU ARE INVOLVED IN SEX SCANDALS AND COULD NOT DISCIPLINE THEM TSK, TSK, TSK? ASK THOSE CEBUANOS, OK?

Manuel_II

Someone from the Government should really tell this Fkng Sodomizing Bishops to really STFU.

beauseant

Let your religion be less of a theory and more of a love affair. – Gilbert K. Chesterton

Where did you get this information, that’s your personal opinion and i am entitle to my personal opinion but there are many sides in the equation that has to be considered. martial law did a lot of good for the welfare of the innocent Filipinos. Marcos did it to save our country from Communism (whose leader Jose Maria Sison) freed by Cory Aquino who now lives in the Netherlands) .marcos was very sick with kidney failure(under dialysis ) to run the country and Cory Aquino took the oppunity manipulated the Army and other politicians to her personal advantage , and for Filipinos to think that Cory did it for our welfare, she did not ,it’s the power , she grabbed it from then Vice-Pres. Arturo M. Tolentino, the legal president of the Phiippines

“Two aspects define the principle of the separation of state
and church, says University of the Philippines law professor Marvic Leonen, a
constitutional expert. First, the freedom to choose one’s religion and the
second, the non-establishment of a State-sponsored religion.”

Wiki said:
In one sense, secularism may assert the right to be free from religious rule and teachings, and the right to freedom from governmental imposition of religion upon the people within a state that is neutral on matters of belief.

In another sense, it refers to the view that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be unbiased by religious influence.

beauseant

“A secularist state, on the other hand, is one in which religion as such — the notion or even mention of God — is
as far as possible excluded from public life, public affairs, and public documents — with the purpose of eventually
making godlessness, coupled with a humanistic adulation of man and his achievements, the reigning belief of the
majority of citizens…

Atheism of this sort, which is a peculiarly modern phenomenon, deserves to be classified as a religion — at least
from a governmental and legal perspective because it promotes its own fully formed view of the origin and meaning
of life, offers its own form of salvation, and is zealously missionary and illiberal toward other world views or
belief systems. In the rapidly approaching secularized European states (or pan-European state, governed from Brussels
or elsewhere), atheism of this breed could become as much a state religion as it was in the Soviet Union — even
if it is applied with more polish and less brutality.” -Philip Trower, Secularism as a State Religion

what happened before at EDSA I was not about differences or practices of ones religion but a matter of Filipino people uniting together irregardless of belief answering the call of the voice of democracy for the sake of regaining back our lost freedom…

http://pulse.yahoo.com/_E5Q5PV6KNYNVSOCHXJVJPYUVFE cion

Oh , my foot, what freedom.EDSA ! was not the work of the majoority, it is the work of the greedy Filipinos ,who took the opportunity for self-interest. if we are better today, How come Filipinos has to endure many sufferring at home, the poor taken advantaged of and has to go elsewhere (other countries ) just to provide for the basic needs of their family.. Congrerssmen are spending the pork barrel funds for themselves, instead of crreating jobs for the people in the provinces incldg ,Mayors, Governors are all enriiching themselves . One good example the Ampatuan clans,who has built numerous mansions and controlled the people to their likings and if they don’t follow their personal rules, they are punished and killed.Filipinos are suppressed and very afraid to fight for their civil rights.

JosephNess

you’re free to your opinion…maybe your foot has not seen and experience the fear, the anxieties, hopelessness, lost of freedom, etc…during martial law, such was your opinion…I can’t blame you for thinking that way…but the fact was, EDSA I has regain us back our freedom from dictatorship, you cannot discredit the people behind EDSA I of their deeds, lest respect them for their actions, thank them for what they did…your concern was not their doing, but our doing…know what, we complain too much instead of being part of the solution….

Hfxwst

Yes – The PEOPLE did the right thing and overcame evil. The rally should be about the future and taking responsibility – it should be about helping those that need the most help – it should be about passage of the RH Bill.

It should be about being able to feed your family, educating your family, sheltering your family – it should be about family planning. We already have dominion over the earth as the Lord instructed – Go Forth and Multiply is no longer relevant!

dongBarako

Bishop Palma…Do a Sin!
Call on CJ Corona to RESIGN!~

SunZi

Pwe.

lambug1

Mr. Beausant is a well-informed man and he, unlike other Filipinos, had the opportunity to read, feel, and experience other people’s beliefs or non-beliefs. Communism is dead ideology and why should a few with guns still claim and practice this long-dead doctrine. In the western world, religion (catholicism and protestantism or Iglesia ni Manolo) becomes IRRELEVANT. THESE people no longer bellieve in fantasy religion but instead on economic prosperity for all individual, human rights, tolerance, human values on virtues (honesty, integrity and justice). Justice demands punishment to the offenders inorder to establish a clean, orderly and fair society. Kaya nga mayroon paglilitis parte caso sa dating pangulo at Chief Justice.

Jomex

Philippines is a secular state, the 1987 Constitution specifically says:

Declaration of Principles and State Policies:

Section 1. The Philippines is a democratic and republican State. Sovereignty resides in thepeople and all government authority emanates from them.Section 6. The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.Section 6. The separation of Church and State shall be inviolable.

And in the Bill of Rights

Section 5. No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting thefree exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship,without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall berequired for the exercise of civil or political rights.

Jomex

Non establishment of religion and religious freedom are contained in the First Amendment of the US Constitution. US and Phil Constitution are in a way similar. We should promote this separation of church and state at all times.

pangitbudhiko

ABNOY, where were you during those time, I saw kris, I NEVER SAW YOU. ARE YOU TOO BUSY?